We started the leg from Niue around about midday in excellent conditions. The forecast was for 15 knot winds, so we did not rig the twistle. In the event the winds varied up to 30 knots from behind so the twistle would have been ideal. As it was, we reefed down and tacked downwind to get the most comfortable sail. We arrived off Tonga just before dawn when it became obvious from the radar overlay that our C-map charts were about 1/4 mile inaccurate!  As we approached, heavy rain meant we could not see the Islands either. We therefore chose to motor the last mile to the finishing line which was crossed at sunrise. Of course by now, we had crossed the International Date Line and lost a day in the process.

Ever efficient, Paul Tetlow was at the Customs wharf to take our lines and smooth our passages through the 4 officials we had to deal with. We picked up a mooring to the welcome discovery that we had free wifi again. We were in company with several other WARC yachts and soon found the several dockside cafes at Neifau, the capital of the Vava'u island group. We spent several days as more and more of our fleet arrived so that at the get together on Saturday, 23 yachts were present. Mike & I had a day scuba diving. The sea life was not as good as Niue but still worth the effort.

Saturday was a double birthday celebration, Donal from 'A Lady' and Rui from 'Thor VI' I baked a cake for Rui and Aileen got baker Steve to produce a cake featuring Donal's motorbike accident! The crews of Eowyn, A Lady and Thor VI all went with Paul and Suzana of WARC for a great lobster dinner.

Tonga is a deeply religious country with business closing by law on Sundays. I spent some tome at the Catholic Church which was packed with worshippers dressed in traditional wear and Sunday best. The men wear a woven grass skirt and the women very modest attire in traditional style.

On Monday at the rendezvous meal, we were delighted to find we had come in 2nd place in our group for the 3 legs from Bora Bora. We were beaten deservedly by 'Lady Eve VI, Dieter flying his spinnaker for much of the 1500 miles. We had a great buffet and the traditional dancing from the restaurants staff was first rate.

Rendezvous Dinner

On Tuesday, a visit to the botanical gardens turned out to be so much more with demonstrations of Tongan crafts and traditions with the ever present dancers from the local school. We had a traditional Tongan feast featuring suckling pig.

We are now free cruising in Tonga and weather permitting, plan to sail to Fiji next Tuesday the 15^th June.

Eowyn has had only one or two minor problems lately but this week we managed to acquire some contamination to our watermaker membrane and will replace it in Mackay.